


Hello You

by lha



Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Gen, Medical, S01:e12 - Vaulting Ambition
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-27
Updated: 2018-01-27
Packaged: 2019-03-10 08:55:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13498722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lha/pseuds/lha
Summary: **SPOILERS** For S01:E12 - Vaulting Ambition  **SPOILERS**Set some time after the events of this episode, Katrina visits Gabriel.





	Hello You

Katrina had spent much of her training and several duty rotations at Starfleet Medical, and while being transferred in as a patient had been unsettling, now several weeks after her release she was glad to be back. She’d been discharged from active care only a few days after she’d been transferred from Discovery and while she had yet to be cleared for active duty, and she had enough perspective to know that she wasn’t ready to be back on the heat of war, today was about someone else’s welfare rather than her own. 

Across the complex there was an array of facilities including medical research laboratories, hermetically sealed quarantine areas, long stay rehabilitation facilities, emergency treatment suites and everything between. The impact of the conflict with the Klingons could be seen here too; there were new buildings being erected, more people walking the paths both as patients and visitors than at anytime Katrina could remember. The cost was high and it was written large in this corner of San Francisco. 

While access was managed and the patient’s movements were monitored in the building she entered, it was neither designed for acute cases or those who had to be secured for their own or others safety. The rooms were larger, designed for longer stays and they could be altered to suit the patient’s needs. Once she’d checked in with the staff on duty, they directed her to the end of the corridor and taking a moment to gather herself, she knocked on the door and let herself in.

“Hello you,” Katrina said watching him from the doorway. He looked far less like the man she knew than the the one she had… than the imposter had. Since they’d found him he’d barely said two words and when they’d approached her it had been clear that his physicians had concerns. When they’d sent through the file she’d understood why they had asked her if she’d make an informal visit. Much of what had happened with Discovery and her crew was classified and as she had been off active duty when they returned, there was a wealth of things she didn’t know. She did however know that the Gabriel she’d last met, whose behaviour she had found so concerning had not been this Gabriel, the Gabriel, her Gabriel. 

He turned from the window and looked at her carefully, blinking slowly in a way that only served to remind her of him, the other him. Time seemed to stretch or slow, as he looked at her but she stood still and let him take his fill. He was skittish, the reports said, unwilling to interact with most people or things and other than being able to see outside, whether to space or the grounds and for the lights remaining on, he’d shown very little preference for anything. He looked older to her, more careworn and somehow fragile. When they’d rescued him, she got the distinct impression that they thought that they were going to retrieve a body but that hadn’t been what they’d found. Somehow, in the dark and the cold of the abandoned hole, Gabriel Lorca had found a way to survive. 

“I brought you muffins,” she said quietly lifting the container.

“Blueberry?” he asked after a pause, his voice hoarse and quiet.

“I know you too well for that. Cinnamon raisin, from that place by the bay,” she replied, stepping far enough into the room to allow the door to close behind her. 

“I like cinnamon raisin.”

“I know,” she said moving towards the table, only continuing forward when he didn’t retreat.

“You prefer blueberry,” he said quietly, watching as she uncovered them.

“Yes, but I knew you’d prefer these and I’m willing to make a sacrifice for a friend.” There was another long pause but Katrina had long ago learnt the art of patience.

“You… you met him, didn’t you? The other me.”

“I… yes I met him. Several times.” She watched him closely not sure what was about to happen. This wasn’t the tense Gabriel ready for a fight, energy pouring from every taught muscle. This wasn’t the confident, willful officer, his chin tilted up against the world and he was certainly not that eye sparkling, naughty schoolboy who she’d seen charm the birds from the trees. This was a Gabriel she didn’t recognise, but it was an affect she’d seen on other patients.

“You… you didn’t notice. You didn’t notice I wasn’t… that he wasn’t me?” The question was quiet, his uncertainty as alien as anything else. 

“I… realised that he was different,” Katrina began, “but I thought that you’d just gone through a major traumatic event with the Buran and…”

“But you didn’t know?”

“No,” she admitted “There are reviews underway about how it wasn’t spotted… but I, I should have known that he wasn’t you.”

“Yes, you should have.” It was delivered so flatly, so unemotionally that she felt a lump form in her throat. “These are good.” Katrina watched as he picked up a muffin and started pulling it apart, absently eating a piece. “They said you’d been… that you’d been away too?”

“I…” she began, about to deflect as she would as a professional before reminding herself that she wasn’t officially there, “for a bit,” she said eventually.

“Was it his fault?”

“Maybe,” she admitted, “if it was, I think it was collateral damage. I’d… I’d told him that I was concerned about his behaviour, that I was going to have him declared unfit for duty.” 

“But you didn’t know it wasn’t me?”

“No, but I was worried. You weren’t… he wasn’t behaving rationally. At least not for you.” Gabriel snorted and there was a flash of something familiar in his gaunt features.

“We need coffee if we’re having muffins,” he suddenly declared with far more confidence than anything else he’d said. “I don’t have coffee in here, we’ll need to go out.” And with that he looked around, snagged the sweater that was hanging over the back of his chair and walked out the door. “Bring the muffins!” he called behind him.

**Author's Note:**

> It's taken a little while, but I think I'm managing to find a 2.0 fic verse after the reveal of last week. It was something I'd talked about to various people but I hadn't really expected them to go through with it. Still - the possibilities are amazing!
> 
> As ever, thanks for reading and I'd love to hear your thoughts here or on twitter @LHA_again
> 
> Lx


End file.
